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#WhenYouWishUponAWelch
Devoted July 2019

Welch’s or Welchs or Welches??

#WhenYouWishUponAWelch, on May 30, 2018 at 4:30 PM

Posted in Etiquette and Advice 36

Hello WW! My FH and I will be getting our engagement photos done tomorrow (yay!) and we are painting a wooden sign with his last name(my future) and est. July 13, 2019. It will read “The Welch’s est. July 13, 2019” or that was the plan. Then FMIL pointed out that the apostrophe S suggests possessive...
Hello WW!

My FH and I will be getting our engagement photos done tomorrow (yay!) and we are painting a wooden sign with his last name(my future) and est. July 13, 2019. It will read “The Welch’s est. July 13, 2019”
or that was the plan. Then FMIL pointed out that the apostrophe S suggests possessive so we should write Welches. But adding the E seems wrong to me and I feel like it should be Welchs or Welch’s. Any opinions or advice? Now I’m questioning it all...

36 Comments

  • Mrs. Fall Bride
    Master October 2016
    Mrs. Fall Bride ·
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    I looked this up recently, because my sister's married name ends in an "S", and from what I could find, if you're pluralizing the name, you add "es" to the end of the name. So, I think, "Welches" would be correct. I do know for sure that "Welch's" is incorrect, as your FMIL said, the apostrophe + s indicates a possessive, not a plural.

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  • Chloe
    Dedicated March 2020
    Chloe ·
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    Apostrophes indicate owner ship. Apostrophe before the S shows ownership of a single person or group. Apostrophe after the S is usually plural ownership. In your case, Welch ends in CH, so, it would be Welches. ES is added to names ending with S, X, SH, CH. and Z, while all the rest would simply need the addition of S. Silly English language with silly exceptions. Lol
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  • Mrs. Fall Bride
    Master October 2016
    Mrs. Fall Bride ·
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    You are the Collinses. A house that you own would be the Collins' or Collins's, although I think the extra "s" is unnecessary when the name ends in S already.

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  • HowCo Industries
    VIP September 2018
    HowCo Industries ·
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    That's definitely not right! I have a friend who married into a Greek family and sometimes uses a Greek plural ending (just to be silly) which is always fun, but still not right in english.
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  • Brae
    VIP September 2019
    Brae ·
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    Hi. If people would like to help me with a very similar thing now instead of waiting till it comes up. I'm going to be a Gomez. Gomezes? Orrr.....
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  • starsinwaves
    VIP November 2018
    starsinwaves ·
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    My FH's last name/my future last name also ends in -man and this drives me crazy! Whenever we're talking about his family collectively, I say the [lastname]-men. We will definitely not be having any signs or decor that say The [lastname]mans.


    OP, you could just say "Welch, Est. 2019"

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  • Stephanie
    Devoted October 2018
    Stephanie ·
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    I would go with Welchs---because it's a name not a noun that ends in S.

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  • Caytlyn
    Legend November 2019
    Caytlyn ·
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    It is technically -es
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  • Amelia
    Expert June 2019
    Amelia ·
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    Nope! No apostrophes, that insinuates that it is possessive. It would just be The Collins because it is both singular and plural. Smiley smile

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  • Amelia
    Expert June 2019
    Amelia ·
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    From: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/plurals.htm

    When a family name (a proper noun) is pluralized, we almost always simply add an "s." So we go to visit the Smiths, the Kennedys, the Grays, etc.When a family name ends in s, x, ch, sh, or z, however, we form the plural by added -es, as in the Marches, the Joneses, the Maddoxes, the Bushes, the Rodriguezes. Do not form a family name plural by using an apostrophe; that device is reserved for creating possessive forms.

    When a proper noun ends in an "s" with a hard "z" sound, we don't add any ending to form the plural: "The Chambers are coming to dinner" (not the Chamberses); "The Hodges used to live here" (not the Hodgeses). There are exceptions even to this: we say "The Joneses are coming over," and we'd probably write "The Stevenses are coming, too."

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  • #WhenYouWishUponAWelch
    Devoted July 2019
    #WhenYouWishUponAWelch ·
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    I love the solution!! Eliminate the problem! Haha
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  • Alicia
    Savvy November 2019
    Alicia ·
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    THIS IS COMPLETELY CORRECT!

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  • Casey
    VIP December 2018
    Casey ·
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    This is why in my house we’ve always done “The Kerins family” or “Kerins Clan” 😂
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  • Orchids
    Master March 2018
    Orchids ·
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    My ex's family had a sign on their door with that misplaced apostrophe and it drove me NUTS every time I saw it! My brain just latches on and will NOT let me ignore it lol.

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  • Michaila
    Dedicated February 2023
    Michaila ·
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    Well that's just confusing...I'm going to be a Welch too...Welches feels more correct to me, but I'm currently a Gerlach and we're always the Gerlachs.
    Maybe because Gerlach and Gerlachs are still two syllables but Welch is one and Welches looks like the two syllables it is???
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  • J
    Master 0000
    Judith ·
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    This is an idiomatic thing, a consistent variant in grammar. For an estate belonging to a family, you choose the actual family name, no plurals, no possessive forms. As though you are saying The Welch ( family) estate. We say, The Kennedy Estate, or The Kennedy Compound, or The Roosevelt Estate, or The Endicott Estate. The same is true of family crests, or family tartans. The Welch Family Crest, The Welch Estate, The Welch Cottage. The McIntosh plaid.
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